Manchester United needs to understand one thing: Cristiano Ronaldo is an accelerator  who has a great skill on executing and finishing a playbook; but he is never an incubator. He outperforms in teams with great incubators (people who stimulate chances from midfield). He is one of the greatest, if not the GOAT, on accelerating and finishing chances.

But outside the ball, he has relative inaction, now, when he is not with the ball. Also, his pressing coverage is relatively below average, now. What happens is this: if there is no Xabi or Iniesta-like in his team, who incubates as great midfielders, team chemistry breaks because expectations crash. CR can still score goals (he is a genius on that) but in general his team underperforms.

Check Juventus: he can finish well (no argument there) but he can only do that if the opportunity is incubated. He is like Lionel Messi; Messi’s career punted when Iniesta left because the accelerator has no incubator in the midfield.

I watch a lot of football games. Manchester United is falling CR because it seems they do not know how to build around him!

I am never a good footballer but in secondary school, my nickname was Sausa, the football strategist and analyst. I have maintained that CR coming to ManU will not work out because “ManU lacks consistency in structure in the midfield” and CR will not change that. That position has not changed.

Comment on Reference to Messi’s Career Being Punted Post Iniesta

On the Messi reference of Messi’ career being punted. This is a general response. The first full season after Iniesta left Barcelona, Barcelona won nothing. This is very rare in a Messi’s team. Sure, Messi scored 25 goals (down close to 40 he usually does); Iniesta’s absence was statistically significant. So, my point that Messi’s career was punted is statistically supported as his team won nothing and his goals dropped by more than 10.

I extend that by saying that CR’s career punted in Juve in his last season there despite the fact that he scored many goals but if you check, his team finished 4th in Serie A (a team that won the awards many times in a row). CR and Messi are not built for teams that win nothing.

Show me data which shows that Messi improved goal scoring, etc post Iniesta. This is not to say that Messi is CR but I was making a point on the impact of midfielders for ManU.

Besides Number of Goals

Lots of comments on my position that Messi’s career “punted” post Iniesta and that Cristiano Ronaldo will not transform ManU until they improve the midfield. Members are dropping the number of goals scored by these legends to counter my point.

Sure, we see it differently. I make these notes:

– Number of goals scored by ace players is not the only metric. CR scored many goals and his team finished 4th in Juve; he was the highest goal scorer.  He won the battle but lost the war. It is key you look at the whole team performance as most of CR goals were against bottom teams (from individual skill) but he struggled against top 10 teams.

– Post full- Iniesta, Messi goals/season against top 10 dropped and he ended with a season where they won nothing. 

– CR can score many goals this season in ManU but his team could still underperform. Why?More than 80% of his goals will be against poor teams where he uses his individual brilliance to pack goals. But with GREAT teams, his team fades. To win medals, you need to be competitive against those good teams. ManU lost 5-0 to Liverpool, 2-0 to MC but next week or so CR can put 5 behind Norwich City. If that happens, next year, some  will argue that he scored many goals this year without examining the distribution of those goals.As a football analyst, I look at goals scored against top 4 teams; CR has underperformed there for ManU. That is very key to winning medals.

-For CR to do well in ManU, the midfield will improve so that they can compete against good teams and he can score against good teams. 

– Messi has scored many goals post-Iniesta but his numbers dropped. In decent teams, he struggled but he piled goals on yoyo teams. My point was that Iniesta made him GREAT against good teams which typically demolish average teams with GOAT-like players.

-In general, I am not one of those analysts who use goals without considering the positions of teams to assess players. Break the goals into three: against top 3, bottom 10, and the rest; if 60% is against bottom 10 (adjusting for number of games, etc), that is a bad season.  

Cristiano Ronaldo Returns To Manchester United

My weekend post this week was provoked by a post from  Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe. which challenged what appeared to be a very perplexing decision of Government….

‘ “Why will you give those of us from the eastern part of Nigeria, from South-East, North-Central, North-East the archaic, old modern narrow gauge, then you are now spending a lot of money to do the modern standard gauge to another country [Niger Republic]. Are people from the South-East, North-Central and North-East not Nigerians? ‘

The main post was not actually what made me think.

Moving on from this, I decided to tag some other Nigerians who have generated regular traffic on LinkedIn relating to Nigeria’s rail improvements.

It is what came next, from Ndubuisi Ekekwe that actually got me thinking:

What occurred to me, is that my presence in Nigeria for multiple stints has been on an expatriate basis, and it got me thinking about what should responsible, moral  and ethical online engagement for an expatriate in a Nigerian context look like?

A week ago, George Senata had this to say:

And my reply was:

The thread drew the following supportive contribution from one Veronica Bridgewater:

And previously:

For sure, foreign MNC leaders in Nigeria have some limitations on what they can say based on Group SMO Policy. However, if that Policy is so straight jacketing, that it prevents them from expressing empathy, then perhaps they need to have a frank dialogue with HQ on changing it.

For MNC’s in particular, the celebrated columnist and expert on Globalization, Thomas Friedman, coined the phrase ‘Global Approach’, which combines  retention of the MNC’s ‘organisational DNA’ but equally importantly, , adapts itself to local strategic imperatives.

Frequently, MNC expatriate leaders incorrectly interpret ‘local strategic imperatives’ to mean product innovation, adherence to local legal and statutory requirements, and employment law.

Beyond that, they look at backwards integration in JV local projects and a few promo community gestures from time to time that has the kudos life flogged out of it by the PR Machine.

This is an ‘I’m OK Jack’ capsule looking out at a hurting land. This is not ‘local strategic imperatives’.

When an expatriate leads a local operation of hundreds and in some cases, thousands of local people, empathy is essential. An expatriate may deliver some of the best numbers in recent trade history.

But if it is so out of tune and oblivious to the general mood of the nation that they don’t acknowledge when their workforce is ‘hurting’, then that can leave years of brand damage.

REAL ‘local strategic imperatives’ involve an organic process.

The MNC needs to grow itself, through empathetic leadership so that it becomes a symbiotic organ in the body of a nations people as a unified form of life.

This is the anchor of the ‘local strategic imperatives’ concept.

There have been some stalwart expatriate leaders in Nigeria over time. People with such positive impact on a local situation that communities call areas after the company they led.

In Lagos, drive down the Ekpe Expressway towards Ajah. You will meet a place that has been named ‘Chevron’ Drive from Mile 2 as if you are headed to Apapa or Satellite Town, and you can reach a place known as ‘Volkswagen’. Do like you are travelling from Ikoyi to Surelere, you will encounter a place called ‘Costain’. Move between the Ogba and Alausa areas of Ikeja and you may find yourself in ‘Berger’.

Why? Empathy!

These companies had foreign leaders in a time of no Social Media, not even internet. If they observed disquiet and melancholy in their work forces, they took out their paper, they took out their pen, they wrote to Military Leaders, to Elected Leaders, to Tribal Leaders, to anyone who would listen.

In these times, we have so many tools to share opinion, we don’t need to have anybody’s ear to ensure we get peoples attention. Despite how easy it has become to execute on TRUE ‘local strategic imperatives’, nobody seems willing to take the plunge.

How many localities in Nigeria in the last twenty years have assumed the name of an MNC? None! And you wonder why?

How do we change this narrative? Expatriate MNC leaders need to engage with the debates. If extra-corporate authoring is too much exposure, there are still ways to contribute meaningfully. Rather than producing content, reacting to content is OK.

On LinkedIn, there are now multiple reaction options. When challenging content seems useful in parts, but there are individual narratives or conclusions that are difficult to support, the ‘curious’ option is a great choice.

It still means coming to the table.

I would say avoid making short comments that are dismissively simplistic. There is a big difference between something that can me misperceived as disparaging, demeaning and insulting , and the still small voice of genuine and honest concern.

Nobody needs to feel under the obligation that they need to be a major agent for change.

I am not trying to encourage a radicalized global expatriate movement weaponized by words.

What I am asking is that people bring their own juice of reason to the table. We don’t need waterfalls of activity. Sometimes it just takes one last drop to burst a dam of suppression and release floodwaters of positive change.

Some view Nigeria as broken, some don’t but if it is, so is the world. We have our religious belief systems that either believe in a life hereafter, in reincarnation, or some believe in some form of cosmic energy unity, but just because this earth is a temporary home in our eyes, there is no need to consider it a toilet.

Nothing is beyond repair and beyond fixing, but Nigeria needs the participation of EVERYBODY, and this means that EVERYBODY in the nations fabric needs to be willing to acknowledge ‘Everything is NOT OK’

Now let us all focus on one thing about Nigeria that we like, and lets add them up. Simply because we can find ugliness and damage, does not mean we can’t find beauty too.

We have since started registrations for the next edition of Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA, an innovation management 12-week program, optimized for business execution and growth, with digital operational overlay. It runs 100% online. The theme is Innovation, Growth & Digital Execution – Techniques for Building Category-King Companies.

The sector- and firm-agnostic management program comprises videos, flash cases, challenge assignments, labs, written materials, webinars, etc by a global faculty coordinated by Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe. It will run from Feb 7, 2022 to end May 7, 2022. Besides all, we have live sessions thrice weekly.

Go here and register – and get many early bird benefits.

I never compare myself with others even though I get inspiration from others. But daily, I try to beat Ndubuisi Ekekwe of yesterday.  This construct brings calm to me and unleashes optimism in my spirit to outperform my past. No matter your circumstances, do not be hard on yourself because doing so freezes your energy.

But do all necessary to keep improving, no matter how little. And if you do, a positive attitude will unlock opportunities because humans who will help you, directly and indirectly, are attracted to positive people.

-Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Being better than your previous self is what growth entails, it’s never about being better than the other person, because both of you can still be mediocre or atrocious.

When you examine your quality of thinking today, as against five years ago, or quality of your judgment, you gain some perspective. They are some of the best indicators that track your development and evolution, and as long as you are improving on those key metrics, you are doing very fine.

Nothing is more fulfilling than being able to make good choices at any given time, because everything rises and falls with soundness of judgment.

It is the quality of what comes out of you that determines how rich or wretched your mind is.

Good People, you’re invited to this program. It is coming from  one of the category-kings on  making startups better and efficient. I am attending PwC Nigeria Startup Masterclass. The conversation will focus on how startups and small companies can access funds in Nigeria.

Date: Wednesday, 10 November 2021

Time: 10:00AM – 11:30AM.

It would be a great event; Tekedia Capital portfolio firm Transtura is also coming .  CEO Vincent Adeoba will likely share how he raised capital for his startup.

The program is free; register here  https://lnkd.in/dJCpW28h

Nations rise when pioneering entrepreneurs emerge. Nigeria MUST provide the funds those builders and makers need. Come and learn the path.